HUNDREDS of families from downtown areas of Wirral have received warming news from the local authority.

Special grants are being offered to residents in the peninsula's Housing Renewal Initiative area to help make their homes snug in the winter and to cut fuel bills.

The scheme will operate in parts of Bidston. Birkenhead, Tranmere, Liscard, Rock Ferry and Seacombe.

Residents will be offered generous discounts on insulation costs. For an average 2/3 bedroom terraced house the cost of loft insulation will be £88 and cavity wall insulation £64 - a quarter of the normal price.

Anyone receiving welfare benefits or are over 60 years of age insulation will be fitted free.

Householders receiving the grant will also get free low-energy light bulbs and a hot water tank jackets if required.

If loft insulation in homes is less than three inches thick, it could be topped up to the current standard of ten-and-a-half inches.

The Cosy Homes initiative is funded by the Government's New Heartlands initiative. The Mersey Pathfinder component of New Heartlands has secured funds of £86m to regenerate some of the most deprived neighbourhoods of Liverpool, Wirral and Sefton.

The funds will allow the housing initiative to promote market renewal and place housing at the heart of regeneration.